HEALTH AND SPA

Dear Readers,

Whether in the amusing ball pit at the Biennale Interieur (left) in Kortrijk or being surrounded by the latest tile and bathroom trends at Cersaie (right) in Bologna – in recent weeks, the autumn trade fairs kept us on our toes! We are more than happy to share with you all of what my colleagues and I discovered and experienced at these trade fairs as well as at the CIFF Furniture Fair in Shanghai, at the Orgatec in Cologne and the Designers’ Saturday in Langenthal in this and the upcoming AIT issues or at our Facebook Blog. Additionally, we delved into the topic of our current issue, “Health and Wellness“, and had the chance to beam us – at least notionally – to more peaceful environments! The common denominator of all the projects featured in this issue is that they focus on the wellbeing of humans – as well as animals (page 122). One doesn’t wish anybody a visit to a medical practice or a hospital, but if it is necessary it should be as pleasant as possible – and the associated interiors should play their part. In our opinion, this has been skillfully solved by the interior designers and architects responsible for the selected projects in Manchester, Mortsel, Stuttgart, Rankweil, and Wuzhen. Fitness studios (page 104) and generous sauna
areas (page 10) as those in Berlin, Porto Alegre, Helsinki, and Biberach can play their part in preventing such unpleasant stays in healthcare facilities in the first place. The imaginative ideas are in any case suited as inspiration for a health-enhancing visit or a pending design concept! The latter is still a long way away for the freshmen who started their architecture or interior design studies in October! This year, too, we want to facilitate the first steps for the novices in our profession and send an AIT First Aid Package to all those who send their certificate of enrolment and their postal address to me (pstephan@ait-online.de). We wish all freshmen a successful start and hope that all of our readers stay healthy!

Best Wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect